Spring 2008
Note Recently a few LIM alumns, faculty and staff gathered to discuss ways to support the Institute and better serve grads. We surfaced many ideas, one of which is to develop a periodic newsletter to foster communication. Here’s the first number, directed primarily at graduates of our on-campus programs. For future newsletters, we’d like to widen it to graduates of our extension programs as well. So, send us your reflections, news, memorials, updates, and employment/volunteer opportunities. If you have other ideas for LIM and its alumns or if you want to be involved in planning for them, let us know. We look forward to strengthening relationships with and among our grads! Until we get a more formal structure, feel free to contact Tom Ryan at tfryan@loyno.edu/504-865-2069 or Diane Blair at dblair@loyno.edu/504-865-3399. |
In his three-volume Time and Narrative, French philosopher Paul Ricoeur wonders
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What does surprise me is how a New Orleans day seems to have more time in it than one elsewhere. I made this discovery as I witnessed how willing New Orleanians are not only to tell stories but also to listen patiently as others relate their own experiences and also, as in my case, others’ experiences at second and third hand.
The other category of stories I’ve heard since moving here includes those about LIM. Having taken LIM courses as a student, taught on campus and graded extension papers as an adjunct, I thought I knew much of what there was to know, but I was mistaken.
I’ve learned that we were founded forty years ago as the Catechetical Institute of New Orleans at the Archdiocese’s Notre Dame Seminary. Thirty years ago, we moved to Loyola as its Institute for Ministry. Twenty-five years ago, we started our extension program.
The main thread that runs through LIM stories has been its transformative character.
It has affected believers ranging from the traditional to the progressive in jobs from the most obviously ministerial to those much less obviously so. It has led people to leave jobs they found to be incompatible with their faith and to start new ones, often at reduced pay. It has enriched the life of the Church in New Orleans, around the country, and around the world. In fact, several years ago, the Archdiocese of Saint Andrews and Edinburgh, Scotland, held a three-day celebration to honor its LIM graduates, the first Catholic university graduates in that country since the time of the sixteenth-century Reformation.
Overall, I’ve found LIM, its faculty, staff, and graduates to be even more inspiring than I expected. It is a gift for me to work here.
To return to my opening thoughts, stories aren’t just descriptive. They have power to impart meaning. Sometimes they do so for the worse and, thus, lead to despair, as suggested in myth. For example, the one thing left imprisoned in Pandora’s Box was hope, and this after all the world’s ills had escaped. A more contemporary example is how some (mis)interpret the Book of Revelation as pinpointing the approaching, inevitable, and catastrophic destruction of the earth. In doing so, such stories devalue creation and obscure God’s loving intentions (that we sometimes thwart nonetheless).
Yet stories can also convey the theme that Pope John Paul II stressed throughout his papacy—“Be not afraid!” To be sure, he recognized that God’s love does not hold sway everywhere and in all hearts. But the stories that he told, indeed the great stories of our faith about the liberation of the Israelites from slavery, about Jesus’ saving death and resurrection, and about God’s mysterious presence in the most surprising corners of creation, assure us that God’s love will ultimately win out.
It is for this reason that many of my fellow New Orleanians tell Katrina stories. They relate suffering and misery, yet most also convey hope even against so much evidence to the contrary.
It is for this reason also, I believe, that people become LIM students. They want to learn more deeply about faith’s stories that speak of liberation from sin and its effects and of God’s transformative love for creation. And they want to learn how to tell such stories more persuasively in their many and varied ministerial contexts.
Indeed, LIM has been a gift to me, but for the past four decades it has also been a gift to the Church and the world. Spread the good news!
Tom is the Institute's Director and can be reached at tfryan@loyno.edu
LIM ALUMN ASSOCIATION
After the first organizational meeting of the LIM Alumn Association, Tony Melito ’88 got us thinking about mission statement and various membership levels. What do you think?
Mission Statement
The LIM Alumn Association supports the educational programs of the Institute for Ministry. It also serves as a resource to Institute graduates by providing opportunities for continuing education, liturgical experiences, spiritual growth, and networking.
Membership Levels
Parabolic $500 Prophetic $1000 Prayerful ($0-∞) ________
Scholarship Fund
Scholarships
Loyola Institute for Ministry
Loyola University New Orleans
6363 St. Charles Ave. Box 67
New Orleans, LA. 70118
UPCOMING EVENTS
"Jewish Spirituality"
Rabbi David Goldstein will deliver a free public lecture Wednesday April 2 at 7PM in Loyola’s Audubon Room. His lecture will be followed over the next 4 Wednesdays with a one-credit introduction to Jewish Spirituality. Rabbi Goldstein is Adjunct Professor of Jewish Studies and Associate Director of the Jewish Studies Program, Tulane University. He is also Rabbi Emeritus Touro Synagogue and has his PhD in Theology from St. Mary's Seminary, Baltimore.
Open House
The graduate programs in the College of Social Sciences, including those offered by the Institute for Ministry, will host an Open House on Tuesday May 6 from 6-8PM in the Audubon Room in the Danna Student Center. Refreshments will be served and door prizes presented. Please tell people who might be interested in graduate study in theology, religious education, and pastoral studies.
Champagne and Dessert!
Come continue to celebrate LIM’s 40th Anniversary with champagne and chocolate the evening of Saturday May 17! Look out for further details.
Workshop for Boards of Catholic Schools
This all-day seminar for board members and administrators at every level of Catholic education is practical and interactive. It presents the current and normative roles, responsibilities, relationships, and expectations of board members in Catholic educational institutions. It takes place at Loyola June 4. See http://www.lim.loyno.edu/Leadership.html.
Summer Catholic Leadership Institute
Through the rich interaction between national Catholic experts and practitioners in the field, the Summer Institute for Catholic School Leadership fosters professional development in new and veteran members of Catholic school leadership teams. It takes place at Loyola June 16-19. See http://www.lim.loyno.edu/Leadership.html.
Invitation to the Catechism of the Catholic Church
Tom Ryan, LIM Director, will deliver a free public lecture Friday June 20 on the Catechism of the Catholic Church. A one-credit course will include the lecture and a class meeting all day Saturday June 21. For more information, contact tfryan@loyno.edu.
Two Week Summer Sessions
LIM’s two summer sessions have been reduced from three to two weeks to give more students an opportunity to take summer classes. They run from June 23 to July 18. If you seek ongoing education or if you know potential students, check it out! For more information, contact dblair@loyno.edu.
Pilgrimage to Ignatius's Spain
Our very own Fr. Jerry Fagin, S.J., published author on Ignatian spirituality, will lead a
40th Anniversary Logo
Diane Blair
The year 2008 marks the 40th year of LIM! We are planning to celebrate in a variety of ways, including our pilgrimage to Spain and special events on campus. Part of our celebration is also visual – we have created a logo to mark this landmark in the institute’s history. It will appear on many of our publications and advertisements.
Diane is Manager for Recruitment, Promotion, and Student Services and can be contacted at dblair@loyno.edu.
CLASS NOTES
Matt Downey ’04 recently visited during a break in a conference in town. He is Principal of Our Lady of Fatima Grade School in Huntington, West Virginia.
Butch Ekstrom ’83, former Coordinator of the Loyola Pastoral Life Center and Associate LIM Director, is Pastoral Director at St. Andrew the Apostle Church in Chandler (outside of Phoenix), Arizona. He is in the process of assembling a learning group to begin the LIMEX program there. He recently visited LIM for the first time in 20 months!
Sr. Joel Gubler O.P. ‘88 is the Director of Religious Education at Our Lady of Pompei in Tickfaw, Louisiana. While living in Rosaryville, she attends to an organic garden, writes a weekly column on the topic of Ecology, and sells water color paintings.
Brian Merry ’91 is Director of Religious Education at Ft. Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas. He recently participated as one of two DRE’s in an Ethics Consult for the Chief of Chaplains. They looked at how the Army conducts Ethics Trainings and how they can re-write the Department of the Army PAM (manual) on Moral Leadership. He also recently had a retreat published in the National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry’s resource manual for 2007: Discover Christ Jesus the Way.
Brian just hired Rey Gustamente ’05 as Youth Ministry Specialist. Before this position, Rey worked for former LIM Director Bernard Lee in campus ministry at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio.
Tony Melito ‘88 is celebrating 25 years of religious education in the charism of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart. He is a religion teacher at Brother Martin High School, a member of their Campus Ministry Team, and has a private practice in Marriage and Family Therapy.
Judy Stewart ‘88 is Campus Minister at Brother Martin High School, a freshman religion teacher, and a Master Catechist for the Archdiocese of New Orleans. Her favorite leisure activity is chasing her 5 grandsons.
